A Plethora of Pix, A Bunch of Bucks Hollywood is shacking its collective cor porate lips these days; 1978 was its best year ever, thanks to Grease, Jaws 11, Heaven Can Wait, Foul Play, Hooper, Revenge of the Pink Panther and Animal House, among others. The industry is already poised for its annual year-end gold rush of3o-35 films, including two animated features, Lord of the Rings by Ralph Bakshi and Watership Down, after the rabbit book; a few big stars will appear, Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way hut Loose ; Syl vester Stallone in Paradise Alley; John Travolta and Lily Tomlin in Moment by Mo ment; Jane Fonda and James Caan in Comes a Horseman, Brando in Superman, Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier in The Boys from Brazil , Dreyfuss in The Big Fix ... we won’t tire you with all the tides. It’s interesting, though, in this fattest of all years, to note the absence of certain big stars who did not contribute to the tall stacks of coin: Pacino, de Niro, McQueen, Redford, Newman, Bronson, Streisand all stayed home. We didn’t need them afier all. Fresh Clay A chat with Michael Nesmith, who pre fers to be identified (and aptly so) as one of the founding fathers of country-rock, rather than (equally aptly) one of the Monkees, re veals that he’s busy creating his own empire based in picturesque Carmel, California. Mike’s purchased the masters to all of his highly-regarded, though slow-selling solo al bums from RCA Records, as well as his in strumental jazz-country-rock Wichita Train Whistle long-player from ABC, and reissued them on his own Pacific Arts label. He’s re leasing new material, too, some of it under a unique arrangement whereby master tapes are merely leased from independent produc ers or artists, sans advance, and “royalties are paid from the first disc sold.” There’s a new “live” Nesmith album just released (see “On Disc,” this issue), and Mike letting no grass grow beneath his boots has just produced an album for Motown’s Fresh, characterized by him as “heavy metal r&b.” When the label approached him, Mike tells us, he wondered how he’d been selected. “You’ve only seen me work in acrylics,” he' challenged them, “how do you know that I can work in clay?” Their reply: “Michael, an artist is an artist.” Brace Yourself Hot ON THE HEELS of Animat House and Al most Summer come three more youth-student flicks in the making, according to Variety’s casting column. The Ones We’ve Been Wait ing For: Disco High, from New World Pictures (the folks who brought you Deathsport and Grand Theft Auto), has parts for a pretty disco-mad femme, a school brain (also femme), football captain and a Sgt. Bilko type. Chasing Rainbows is about college graduates today and what they face in society (snore); producers want a s’B" femme with out shoes, and don’t ask why. D. Minus, a “satire on public education a la Dr. Strangelove,”. needs “a cross between Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman (who doesn’t?) a Barbra Streisand prototype (sic) and a Richard Dreyfuss prototype (sic again). Don’t call us. THEBlGFlX.isn’t even out yet, but Richard Dreyfuss is so in love with the character of Moses Wine (see our interview, page 8) he’s already agreed to replay Wine in Roger Si mon’s next installment, Peking Duck which takes place in China, no surprise, Simon wrote one other Wine book, Wild Turkey,. which was optioned but never made by War ren Beatty. Beatty is the kiss of death for many projects... he was eager to make films on the lives of Howard Hughes and writer John Reed. That was two years ago. The Distant Clattering of Typewriters Reporter Pete Hamill has written the first of three detective books but instead of a detective the hero is a reporter named Sam Briscoe. The first is titled Dirty Laundry; all three have been purchased by Universal for more than $1 million. So far no word on whether a rich and famous widow appears in any of the books. Columbia Pictures recently an nounced formation of a Writer’s Workshop program designed to dis'eover and develop screenwriting talent from the farflung hinter lands that is, universities and colleges. Students (or recent graduates) selected by the writing departments must submit an original work —short story, play, screenplay—and a written recommendation from one or more faculty members. Those chosen will attend a 16-week workshop at Columbia Studios in Burbank, afier which they’ll hand in their screenplays. David Z. Goodman, director of the Workshop (and author of Straw Dogs, Farewell, My Lovely and the wretched Eyes of Laura Mars) will read R. I. P. Keith Moon 1947-1978 each and choose those deemed worthy of further development—to be purchased by Columbia Pictures for real money. So says the press release. Remember, when you’re bewildered in Burbank, Ampersand is just a phone call away. If instead OF SCREENPLAYS you write songs, take note: BMI has announced its 27th annual Student Composers competition for people under 26 in accredited schools. Dead line is December 31, prize money is $15,000. Wax Fax David Bowie is recording in Switzer land, with Brian Eno co-producing; Warren Zevon still isn’t in the studio, but his record company devoutly hopes he’s at home writ ing songs, as he says he is . . . Captain Beefheart returns to Warner Bros. Records with an album called Shirty Beast (Bat Chain Puller), produced by WB exec Pete Johnson, who is merely one of the best people in the world; on the album the Captain introduces his newest dance craze, the-Floppy Boot Stomp . . . Alice Cooper is still working on that album inspired by his drying-out experi ence in an East Coast sanitarium for alco holics; his co-writer is Bemie Taupin, the no-talent turkey who churned out sappy lyrics for Elton John. Alice has written a few' good songs in his day; Taupin hasn’t... Rod Stewart’s next is Blondes Have More Fun, available as a regular record and, in limited quantities, as a picture disc. As one disgrun tled Scene Observer muttered, “Who wants to buy his mug on a poorer quality record? But never overestimate the moronity of the American public.’.’ Drummer Mick Waller has sued Rod Ste wart in London court, claiming $12,000 due for session work on Smiler, several years back. Big Sellers: Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell has qualified for Triple platinum” in Australia that’s 150,000 copies sold. Saturday Night Fever has sold 20,000 copies in Greece. Flickers James William Guercio, once pro ducer of rock group Chicago, is now produc ing movies—one movie, anyway, called The Hamster of Happiness, directed by Hal Ashby (Bound for Glory, Last Detail ) and starring Robert “Baretta” Blake—who also starred in Elektra Glide in Blue a few years ago, which was directed by Guercio. Hamster is an off-beat love story, a script that’s been kicking around Hollywood for several years. Neil Simon’s next Broadway. play(wUl he never stop? After The Cheap Detective people are still giving him money?) is called They’re Playing Our Song, about a composer and lyri cist who fall in love. It’s being scored by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager, who happen to be composer and lyricist in love. Ain’t.that sweet? Fortunately, homely Hamlisch will not appear in the play; Robert Klein and Lucie Amaz will star. Dustin and Anne Hoffman arc still sepa rated on their way to divorce, but they’re liv ing under the same New York roof. Dustin is filming Kramer vs. Kramer (ironically, about a divorce) while Anne appears in Woody Al len’s new venture, Manhattan; it stars Diane Keaton and is not, repeat not, a drama. Bye-Bye ASLEEP at the Wheel has lost three mem bers: singer Leroy Preston has wandered off to pursue his songwriting career; pianist (Continued on page 15) Record Producer Tom Wilson 47, died of arterial sclerosis at his home in Los Angeles on September 9. Not generally icluded on any list of superstar producers, Wilson was involved in many of the most important record projects of the Sixties. As a member of CBS’s A&R staiT, Wilson produced Simon and Garfun kel’s first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Later, with Paul Simon in England and Art Garfunkel out of the music business entirely, Wilson took it upon himself to everdub elec tric guitars and drums on one track from the acoustic, folk-style LP, “The Sounds of Si lence.” Two careers were born, though at the time neither singer professed to be pleased with Wilson’s initiative. He also-produced Bob Dylan’s first “electric” album, Bringing It All Back Home, and the single, “Like a Rolling Stone.” Moving to MGM/Vcrve Records, Wilson produced the first albums by The Blues Project (with AI Kooper and Steve Katz, who went on to form Blood, Sweat & Tears), and The Mothers of Invention. Later, Wilson produced the album debut of the En- glish band, The Soft Machine. Thus Wilson, a black, was almost exclusively identified with ' progressive white artists. As thcSixties ended, Wilson produced bands for Motown’s Natural Resources subsidiary, plus, more re cently, acts including soul singer Vernon Burch and pianist Professor Longhair. October, 1978
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